DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki faced Tatsuya Kawajiri this past weekend in the main event of DREAM.15 in Japan. Aoki submitted Kawajiri with an achilles lock in the first round, and felt that he’d have to break his opponents leg to get the win.
In a post-fight interview with SportsNavi, Aoki talked about his win showing a lot more respect and poise than he did against Mizuto Hirota at the NYE Dynamite!!! 2009 event. He broke Hirota’s arm in the fight and then promptly gave the middle finger to his injured opponent as well as the crowd before leaving the ring.
At some moments in the fight, it seemed like you tried to re-grip Kawajiri
When I caught him and tried to submit him, I heard a loud crackle sound. He did not tap so I thought ‘Ok, this match just became a death-fight’ and I was going to destroy his leg.Did you believe you would win when you first grabbed his leg?
I knew Kawajiri never taps so I could not win without breaking his bone. I was hoping for an open-fracture.Could you feel Kawajiri’s ‘lionheart’ in this fight?
Yes, yes. No one could have endured [that submission] like Kawajiri. His heart is iron.You did not wear your famous long spats. What was the reasoning behind your decision?
There was no reason and there’s no reason to wear long spats in every fight.You said something to Kawajiri after the fight, what was it?
“I could show you 100% [meaning either he could have fully destroyed his leg or he didn’t give the fight his full potential] but I chose not to because I respect you. Thank you for this fight.”
The original interview was conducted in Japanese, translated by GryphonJapan, and cleaned up by MiddleEasy.com.